Israeli striker inadvertently sums up his season whilst attempting to have a pop at the Swans
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| In action against Arsenal. He probably got tackled here. He doesn't even look interested! |
Itay Shecter. A name which instilled fear in the fans of opposi... no, wait, that's not right. Much more likely it was a name which instilled fear in Swansea fans any time we saw it on the teamsheet - after we'd had a chance to get used to his level of performance anyway. The striker arrived on loan from Kaiserslautern a virtual nobody, and it's (to me at least) still a mystery as to how his name came up when potential signings were discussed pre-season. Nevertheless, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I gave the Israeli international a long time to make good, but it just never happened for him.
Lethargic on the ball, he didn't help himself by consistently drifting aimlessly back towards his midfield, leaving the Swans with no outlet up top, and what's worse, he didn't even look like scoring when in front of goal. You could forgive him if he'd looked fired up and sniped constantly in and around the box, but that was far from the case for the entire season. In truth, even when he did finally manage to find the net there's no way we can tell whether his effort was initially on target, given that it was deflected and span into the corner of the net. He finished the season with eighteen appearances (7 of those starts) and as a striker you've got to be pretty disappointed in yourself if your only goal of the season came off a defender's foot after yours.
For his part, Shechter clearly feels he's been harshly treated during his time here:
“I experienced a tough season. I didn’t feel part of the team. I had to take a step back to regain confidence and enjoy playing once more. I’m really happy to be back home.
“Perhaps I could have made more money at other clubs, but I’d rather play for Hapoel. The expectations from me would have been high regardless of my salary and I will do my all to repay the club." Itay Shechter
Aww Itay, you didn't feel part of the team? Must be hard to force yourself to mingle with your team-mates when you're being paid wages most of us only dream of. Ok, you had a tough season, but you can't blame the team. An excellent article in the Guardian a while back pointed out that Shechter had managed 4 shots on goal in his 621 Premier League minutes for the Swans, one every 155.3 minutes. Now, I'm neither a mathematician or a Premier League standard forward, but even I can work out that if you're only shooting once every 1.6 matches you're not scoring a load of goals.
"His" goal at Wigan was obviously the highlight of his Swans career, but in truth he'd already become a bit of a joke amongst Swansea fans, to the point where, when he scored, messages started appearing with the line "I was there when Shechter scored". And that's what he'll be remembered most for. Despite his protests he managed to pick up a Capital One Cup winner's medal, so he can't complain too much, but I'd imagine most Swansea fans will be wishing him well at Hapoel Tel-Aviv (his new [and former] club), whilst at the same time hoping we never cross swords with him again.
All the best Itay, just never come back!